Overview
- Rescuers in Kyiv, who finished work Friday at a shattered apartment block, confirmed 24 dead including three children and a day of mourning as more than 60 foreign envoys visited the site.
- Ukraine’s General Staff said Defense Forces struck the Ryazan oil refinery in Russia, and regional officials there declared an emergency after fires and casualties from the overnight drone barrage.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky said military intelligence obtained documents showing Russia plans fresh rocket and drone strikes on decision-making centers, and diplomats plan a UN Security Council session on May 19.
- Heavy combat rolled across the front with 221 clashes reported by late Friday, as Russian forces pressed hardest near Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka and Huliaipole, using guided bombs, drones and artillery.
- Ukraine’s security service reported new arrests of alleged Russian agents in Kharkiv, Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia who mapped air-defense sites and troop routes for strike correction, while a separate cell in Cherkasy was caught staging arsons for Moscow.